I just want to cry for these people whose lives were ruined at the whim of some... I don't know how to finish that thought without cursing the people who let this happen and a God who would allow such treatment.
I feel their pain. I feel their anger. I feel their resignation. I don't understand people who don't have empathy for their plight.
I am, again, looking for the "horrified" button. Buy please understand that while I am horrified, I am also grateful for the knowledge. Thank you for your wisdom and the education you bring, even though it causes discomfort. It must be told!
Pierce Mease Butler! Have you any idea just how many "negroes" today have Butler as their last name?!! I married one and he was a complete 💯 former son, of a former son, of a former son, of this slave owner Butler-I do suspect and declare! A brute and violater of human rights and dignity. His name being Robert Henry Butler from Huntsville, Texas. He couldn't fitch a plug nickel today. Worthless!
I do thank you for this article Mr. Spivey, even though it's triggering I'm greatly appreciative.😔
I've always felt that slave auctions and breaking up slave families was the WORST thing about slavery, although the tortures, rapes, lousy living conditions, and hopelessness of life are not far behind it.
I've often said that if I was hurled back in time and forced to be a plantation owner in the antebellum South, (like that Twilight Zone movie segment of a racist becoming the victim of racism, I guess) I would bring all the slaves to the front of the mansion and say, "You are no longer slaves, you are now all employees of the Apple Wapple Productions Company. You will be paid salaries for your work. The farm will be made more profitable by 21st-century agricultural techniques, including crop rotation and fertilizers. Overseers will be replaced by managers. There will be no use of punishments, no auctions, and no rape.
"Everybody is now a free employee or dependent. You will all get ID cards to that effect. All children will go to school on the campus -- they will not go into the fields. I will have a contractor review slave row and bring your housing up to code, complete with plumbing. I expect you to unionize, so that we can work out an employment contract and address grievances and working conditions. That will also include sexual harassment. We will offer adults night schools to address illiteracy and career training.
"If anybody wants to leave, I'll give you the papers you need to avoid being re-enslaved, but I hope you stay here. Anybody seeking family members that were sold off under the previous administration should reach out to me and we'll work to get that reversed.
"We will also have a company store, where you can get t-shirts and coffee mugs."
I think we'd be a very efficient and happy farming corporation.
We might even find nearby slaves fleeing to join our outfit.
Thank you for referencing the book, The Weeping Time. I just downloaded it on Audible.
I hope you enjoy it, maybe appreciate it is a better word.
I thank you so much for this history lesson. Something of which of course, I have never read an actual account.
This is the type of history that must never be forgotten.
Thanks for this story of American history. Those times need to be remembered!
I just want to cry for these people whose lives were ruined at the whim of some... I don't know how to finish that thought without cursing the people who let this happen and a God who would allow such treatment.
I feel their pain. I feel their anger. I feel their resignation. I don't understand people who don't have empathy for their plight.
I am, again, looking for the "horrified" button. Buy please understand that while I am horrified, I am also grateful for the knowledge. Thank you for your wisdom and the education you bring, even though it causes discomfort. It must be told!
Pierce Mease Butler! Have you any idea just how many "negroes" today have Butler as their last name?!! I married one and he was a complete 💯 former son, of a former son, of a former son, of this slave owner Butler-I do suspect and declare! A brute and violater of human rights and dignity. His name being Robert Henry Butler from Huntsville, Texas. He couldn't fitch a plug nickel today. Worthless!
I do thank you for this article Mr. Spivey, even though it's triggering I'm greatly appreciative.😔
"Devistating" is hardly adequate for this horror. Thank you again for bringing history into the light, though the reading of this leaves me shaking.
I appreciate any effort to realize this dark time as it was and to humanize both slave and slaver for readers.
Truly Jesus wept.
No words
I've always felt that slave auctions and breaking up slave families was the WORST thing about slavery, although the tortures, rapes, lousy living conditions, and hopelessness of life are not far behind it.
I've often said that if I was hurled back in time and forced to be a plantation owner in the antebellum South, (like that Twilight Zone movie segment of a racist becoming the victim of racism, I guess) I would bring all the slaves to the front of the mansion and say, "You are no longer slaves, you are now all employees of the Apple Wapple Productions Company. You will be paid salaries for your work. The farm will be made more profitable by 21st-century agricultural techniques, including crop rotation and fertilizers. Overseers will be replaced by managers. There will be no use of punishments, no auctions, and no rape.
"Everybody is now a free employee or dependent. You will all get ID cards to that effect. All children will go to school on the campus -- they will not go into the fields. I will have a contractor review slave row and bring your housing up to code, complete with plumbing. I expect you to unionize, so that we can work out an employment contract and address grievances and working conditions. That will also include sexual harassment. We will offer adults night schools to address illiteracy and career training.
"If anybody wants to leave, I'll give you the papers you need to avoid being re-enslaved, but I hope you stay here. Anybody seeking family members that were sold off under the previous administration should reach out to me and we'll work to get that reversed.
"We will also have a company store, where you can get t-shirts and coffee mugs."
I think we'd be a very efficient and happy farming corporation.
We might even find nearby slaves fleeing to join our outfit.